Walking in the Valley A weekly column for those who live and walk in Silicon Valley by Barbara Dahlgren

A Real Mystery Column for the week of June 9-15, 2002

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Mildred Wirt Benson died at the age of 96 a couple of weeks ago. Many of you may know her by her pseudonym, Carolyn Keene. Still not familiar? Well, she was the original author of the Nancy Drew mystery series. More than 200 Nancy Drew mystery books have been written by many Carolyn Keenes over the years, but Mildred Wirt Benson was the author of the first 20 or so books in the series and the creator of Nancy Drew in 1930.

Nancy Drew was the daughter of a widowed lawyer, Carson Drew, who let her do just about anything she wanted. They had a housekeeper named Hannah so Nancy never had to do chores. She drove her own convertible roadster, spent lots of money, played golf, piloted planes, rode horses, fixed cars, drove boats, dressed perfectly for any occasion, was loyal to her friends and faithful to her boyfriend, Ned Nickerson. She was modest and beautiful but preferred being called "interesting." Oh yes, and she solved mysteries. Lots of mysteries!

Benson is almost as fascinating as the persona she created. She was a journalist at a time when most women chose being a housewife as a career. She excelled at sports and was an aviator who flew planes well into her old age. She contracted to ghostwrite the Nancy Drew mysteries for a mere $125 per book, signing a contract not to reveal her real identity, nor to claim any royalties. And this she honored even though the popularity of Nancy Drew continues even until this day. Just tell that to the Yahoo man who said, "Yahooooooooooo" for a measly $500 but went on to threaten a lawsuit to get much, much more after Yahoo became rich and famous.

How I used to love to read a good mystery! At a young age I started with the Trixie Belden series. She was younger than Nancy, and belonged to a club called the Bobwhites that solved mysteries. And then there were the Hardy Boys, two brothers always into mischief. I graduated to Nancy Drew. What a girl! She was way ahead of her time. You might even say she's timeless or at the least very, very busy since she only aged from 16 to 18 in her over 200 books. Then I went on to Nick and Nora Charles of the Thin Man series, Perry Mason before he became a T.V. show, Miss Marple, Mrs. Polifax (my personal favorite) and the list goes on and on. Of course, these are all in the pre-Tom Clancy/John Grisham era. They were just plain, old fashioned "Who Done Its!"

It's a mystery how fascinated we all are by mysteries. Maybe that's why the Bible refers to certain things as mysteries. 1 Corinthians 15:51 says, "Behold, I show you a mystery!" But it's a mystery that God doesn't want us to be ignorant about. (Romans 11:25) He actually wants to know what this mystery is. (Ephesians 1:9; 3:3-4) So much so that he gives us the best "clue" of all in Colossians 1:27. You don't have to be a Nancy Drew to solve this one. All you have to do is open your Bible. The Bible isn't as mysterious as you might think if you would take time to read it. In fact, it's a real mystery why more people don't.

©June 2002

Be sure to visit this page every week to read the next edition of Walking in the Valley. You can write to the author at bydahlgren@aol.com.